iTunes store 'hole' open again

Apple block breached in a day

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Less than 48 hours after Apple repelled fair use activists, the iTunes Music Store can be again accessed from any platform, allowing customers to buy music unencumbered by DRM.

A new version of PyMusique, 0.3, was released today which circumvented the block that Apple put in place on Monday. PyMusique simply allows users to become iTunes music customers without needing Apple's Mac and Windows-only iTunes client software, expanding Apple's customer base. So a PyMusique user can setup an account and pay for music - but not 'steal' songs for free. Because Apple only applies DRM at the client, it has the happy bonus that music won't be encumbered by DRM and the ever-decreasing freedom that Apple permits. The application runs on any computer that runs Python and a few libraries, including the Gtk and crypto modules.

"Our intent was not to circument (sic) copy protection, and if Apple did DRM on the server, we would leave it in place!" wrote Cody Brocious, one of the PyMusique developers.

It's a sign that while Apple remains ahead of the activists, the anti-DRM developers are now only hours behind. Meanwhile, music sites that allow users to listen to, or buy music without DRM such as BetterPropaganda or Bleep can spend more resources improving their sites, rather than penalizing their users. ®